Alex's TV On-the-Go: Week of April 5th

This Week On…

Nurse Jackie- “Comfort Food” On the season two premiere, this show once again provided what we learned from last season; it heavily relies on its talented actors. Edie Falco is the show. – Without her we’d have a mediocre nurse dramedy that would fall flat or essentially become NBC’s “Mercy”. Falco takes a character most people would hate purely on her description, a drug addict mother who cheats on her husband, and makes it believable and at times even relatable. We picked up right where we left from last season,: Jackie has moved on from her ex-lover Eddie (Paul Schulze) and is trying to concentrate on work and family. This plan comes to a halt when Eddie is admitted into the hospital for an “accidental” overdose on Xanax. The remainder of the episode mostly focused on the rest of the staff, including Dr. Cooper (Peter Facinelli). something here please, like, ‘maybe it’s just me’ or... somethingWhat’s with his storyline? I like Facinelli as much as the next guy, but can we take his storyline down a notch? Also, the show can always use more Zoey (Merritt Wever). At first just losing Mo-Mo (Haaz Sleiman) on the show was a blow, but now Zoey seems to be losing the spunk that really gave the first season its quirky humor. So let’s cut down on the Cooper and add on the Zoey, deal?

Parenthood- “The Situation” This episode had plenty of storylines going on but the two that stood out most were Adam (Peter Krause) and Sarah’s (Lauren Graham). Adam was once again dealing with Max (Max Burkholder) and his diagnosis of Asperger’s, he also started to bond with Sarah’s son Drew (Miles Heizer). The storyline might seem like it’s getting old by now, but Krause brings such a sense of honesty to the role that you truly feel his frustration with the situation and you just want to pat him on the back. Sarah’s storyline mostly consisted of her hitting it off with Amber’s (Mae Whitman) much younger teacher, played by the always-reliable Jason Ritter. I’ll just say it right now: Lauren Graham and Peter Krause, will you adopt me? The other storylines were hit or miss. As much as I love seeing Adam dealing with his older daughter having a boyfriend, I could really do without a fight between the teenager lovers about the meaning of “Love, Actually”. I’m still struggling with Julia’s (Swimfan’s Erika Christensen) storyline with her daughter – it’s dragging a bit, but maybe it will pick up. One final note to leave you on, One final note – has anyone noticed that the matriarch of the family, Camille (Bonnie Bedelia), seems like a completely ambiguous character, or is it just me?

How I Met Your Mother- “Say Cheese” What has always worked best on this show is the chemistry between the five main actors, and in an episode where they’re in the same room for the entirety of the 22 minutes, there isn’t much to complain about. In this episode, Ted brought brings a date to Lily’s small private birthday celebration because this new girl might be the “the one”. It was nice to see Marshall take charge for a change, going so far as to kick Ted’s date out of the party. or some other rewording. I’ve had many friends tell me they’re sick of Lily and Marshall being so lovey dovey, but I really think the show works with them being acting the hopelessly-in-love pair, just like Barney being a acts the suit-wearing womanizer – it’s what makes the show. After a Robin-centric episode the week before, it was sad to see her reduced to simply trying to get Barney to take a bad picture in this week’s show. Can we fix this? Otherwise, solid episode.

Why I still watch Grey’s Anatomy:

Rewind to Spring of 2006 when things were simple: Katherine Heigl was a semi-known TV star, Isaiah Washington was employed, and Denny a heart. This all took place during the heartbreaking season two finale of “Grey’s Anatomy,” now in its 6th season. Grey’s was on the top of the world, it seemed like everyone had to see who Meredith would choose: McVet or McDreamy? Would Izzie ever get her job back or fall in love again? These were the questions people were dying to find out, but once the show came back for season three, it slowly started going downhill. In this season, Grey’s has finally reached the point where I can forgive them for Gizze (The romance between George and Izzie), I can forgive them for Meredith “dying”, and most importantly, I can forgive them for ghost sex.

Grey’s started out strong in its first two seasons and after its epic season two finale, the writer’s just couldn’t seem to top it. We’ve said goodbye to some characters (thank the success of “The Ugly Truth” for that one), and hello to many, some who have worked, some who were just cringe-worthy. At this point the show has seemed to pick up the slack and is finally back on track to become the show most people fell in love with. Meredith and Derek have finally made it official - even post-it official is enough to put a stop to viewers’ will-they-or-won’t-they games. Lexie Grey, Meredith’s sister, has also finally stepped up to the plate and become a strong character that most viewers can actually tolerate.

Christina Yang and Miranda Bailey have come back on top, which is important because these roles are played by the ensemble’s two strongest actors: Chandra Wilson and Sandra Oh. Oh and Wilson have always done a great job of making the best of what they are given, but now that they both have great storylines to work with, they can fully excel once again.

The sudden resurge of the show might be a case of ‘too little too late’ for some viewers, but for the ones who have stood by its side even through the rough times, it couldn’t have come sooner.